An Invincible Summer (Wyndham Beach #1)(100)

“How often has this ‘friend’ found his way to Philly on his private jet?”

“Several times.”

“Well, let’s see. Several is more than a couple, which would be two. So somewhere between three and whatever?”

“Yeah. Three and whatever.” Natalie laughed. “Four. He’s stopped in four times.”

“Four times in the past month?”

Natalie nodded.

“And . . . ?” Maggie gestured for her to continue.

“And . . . he calls. We FaceTime. We text.” Natalie could have added, At least once a day, every day. But best to play it down. “No big deal.”

“Okay. No big deal.” Maggie had turned her attention to Daisy, who’d stopped walking and was about to pick one of the neighbor’s prized peonies. “Those are not ours, Daisy. You can help me pick our own flowers when we get back to the house.”

And that had been the extent of the conversation about her relationship with Chris. It was more complex, more nuanced than she’d let on, but she was conflicted about her own feelings. She knew he cared about her—he’d said as much—but she also knew he’d been seeing some high-profile women. She’d have died before she’d admit it, but she’d become addicted to those gossipy TV shows. She’d yet to pass by any supermarket magazine that had Chris’s face on the cover without picking one up. Last week she’d actually found herself hiding in the paper goods aisle hunched over a tabloid story about how he’d rescued an ex-girlfriend from suicide after he’d dumped her via text—a story he’d sworn was absolute rubbish when she’d chided him about it.

“Seriously, Nat? You know me better than that. Dumping someone by text? And, by the way, she dated my manager, not me. I’ve never been alone with her, I’ve never sent her a text of any kind, and if she’d tried to commit suicide, this is the first I’ve heard about it.”

“Why would they make up a story like that?”

“To sell magazines, why do you think?” He’d shrugged. “They make up crazy crap all the time so people will pick up the magazine and talk about it. Crap sells.”

Their relationship was hard to define. Yes, they were friends. The things that had drawn them to each other years ago still attracted. They both laughed at the same things. They liked the same books and movies and disliked the same television shows. They both loved Game of Thrones and had seen every episode more than once, and had read each of the books. Classic rock? Yup. Butter pecan ice cream and taco salad? Yes indeed. Environmental awareness? Absolutely. Mad Men? The Office? Seinfeld? Bring on the reruns. They saw eye to eye on almost every political issue. They never ran out of things to talk about.

One thing they didn’t agree on was where their relationship was headed. Natalie was struggling to keep things in the friend zone. Chris wanted to move it toward something else. He’d made certain she understood that, by his words and by the way he kissed her. He never left her house without kissing her goodbye and making sure she understood he was game for more, but not unless and until she was.

Then there was his reputation of being a player. As much as Natalie cared about him—wanted to test those waters with him—she had yet to determine how much of his rep was hype and how much had roots in fact. If their relationship became romantic and didn’t work out—And why would it, she asked herself over and over, because he can have his pick of anyone—how awkward would that be? How could they maintain a friendship after a bungled romance? He was so affectionate with Daisy, and Natalie loved watching them interact, but how would her daughter feel if Chris disappeared from their lives? If things ended really badly, how might that affect their mothers, who were such close friends? Maybe best to avoid future regret, as they said in those late-night commercials, and forgo the love story.

But there was that little voice inside her that teased with thoughts of how it could be if it didn’t end badly. What if they really did fall in love? What if they could live happily ever after?

What if she could tell Chris he was right, the reward would be worth the risk?

“Would you ever move back to Wyndham Beach?” he’d asked her as he was leaving after his last visit.

“I don’t know. Would you?”

“I would if you would,” he’d told her. She’d searched his face for a sign he was teasing, but she’d found none.

“I don’t see you doing that,” she’d said.

“Not right now. Maybe not for a while,” he’d admitted, “but someday.”

“Maybe someday.”

“Someday for sure,” he’d said right before he’d kissed her goodbye. “You and me, Nat. Someday . . .”





Chapter Twenty-One


MAGGIE

Letting go of the anger Maggie’d held on to for so many years felt like dropping a hundred-pound weight she’d been carrying on her back. Relieved of the burden that had caused her nothing but sorrow, she was free to open her heart completely not only to Joe, but to Brett. It had shocked her to learn he’d suffered, too, and while she wished with all her heart he’d opened up to her sooner, she had no regrets in the way her life had turned out. She’d always believed things turned out the way they were meant to.

On the Monday after her lunch with Brett, Maggie walked into town and stopped at Ground Me for coffee and doughnuts, then made her way across the street to the police station.